


Ten Today

by fragilecapricornpanic



Series: Ben and Klaus [12]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Canon Compliant, Dead Ben Hargreeves, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, Humor, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, One Shot, One Shot Collection, POV Alternating, Pre-Canon, Protective Ben Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:56:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27499786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fragilecapricornpanic/pseuds/fragilecapricornpanic
Summary: “Do you know what today is?” Ben patronisingly asked, having the definite feeling that he wouldn’t. His brother paused to contemplate, seeming disgruntled to have to use his brain so soon after waking. He never wanted to use his brain anyway, this timing made no difference. “...Wednesday?” Klaus hesitantly guessed, missing the intent of Ben’s question entirely.“It’sSatur-“ Ben stopped his correction mid way, deciding it made no impact on what he was saying. “It’s an anniversary...”
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Ben and Klaus [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944970
Kudos: 46





	Ten Today

Impatiently waiting for his brother to wake up, Ben hoped his calculating guilt-tripping was going to work. The _I’m dead_ tactic had grown ineffective at this point, since Ben had admittedly overused it. Sue him, it’s a valid thing to complain about. When Klaus finally woke up, he jumped at how intensely Ben was staring at him. “Do you want me dead too, asshole?!” Klaus snapped, immediately rushing into his usual routine of poisoning himself. 

Choosing not to get into a petty argument, Ben ignored that remark. “Do you know what today is?” Ben patronisingly asked, having the definite feeling that he wouldn’t. His brother paused to contemplate, seeming disgruntled to have to use his brain so soon after waking. He never wanted to use his brain anyway, this timing made no objective difference. “...Wednesday?” Klaus hesitantly guessed, missing the intent of Ben’s question entirely. Ben would die all over again to punch Klaus in the face.

“It’s _Satur_ -“ Ben stopped his correction mid way, deciding it made no impact on what he was saying. How did a ghost have a better mental calendar than an alive person? “It’s an anniversary...” Ben condescendingly elaborated, growing aggravated by Klaus’ cluelessness. His brother once again took a moment to search the dusty archives of his brain, audaciously growing just as aggravated as Ben.

Was it their birthday? Klaus was pretty sure it wasn’t their birthday. It could be though, since it was pretty cold. Was it thanksgiving? Maybe Christmas? Why would Ben care about those holidays? It wasn’t like he could be involved. Anniversary... It had to be their birthday, but Klaus was reluctant to say so because Ben would haughtily lecture him if that wasn’t correct. There was a hazy memory of their birthday happening recently though... Ben’s staring was becoming more unnerving the longer Klaus took to think. “I hate your mental warfare!” Klaus eventually flew off the handle, tired of Ben and his ghost mind games. 

Sometimes Ben legitimately fantasised about punching Klaus in the face. Now was one of those times. Maybe he’d even consider letting the tentacles out this time, since he was so infuriated. “It’s the anniversary of my death, you selfish asshole!” Klaus’ expression showed that he was firmly underwhelmed by that reveal. “Is that it?” Klaus literally yawned, sounding like Ben had just said the most boring and uninteresting thing in existence. _Is that it?_ Is that goddamn it?! 

“I’ve been dead for ten years!” Ben yelled with exasperation, wishing one of his other siblings were the seance instead. Not Luther though, that would just be depressing. Ben didn’t even want to think about Vanya, he was still furious with her for that betrayal of a book. It had been an entire decade today since Ben had died, this was a big deal. His death was in the double digits. In only seven years, Ben would’ve been dead the same amount of time he’d ever been alive. 

In the past Ben used to be able to manipulate Klaus into humoring him on this anniversary, but his brother had stopped giving a shit a couple of years ago. “I just thought you’d moved past this now, Benny.” Klaus airily drawled, leaving the room as if they weren’t in the middle of a profound conversation. It must be amazing to have Klaus’ sheer and utter lack of awareness.

Following behind his brother, Ben could practically feel phantom tentacles begging to be released like when he was alive. Whenever he was stressed they used to try and force their way into the world, which was one of the only highlights of being dead. They left him alone now, they’d already killed him. They had nothing left to do. “You thought I’d moved past my own death?” Ben incredulously shouted through the bathroom door to be heard over the faucet. It wouldn’t surprise Ben if Klaus was running the tap just to drown out Ben’s nagging.

His brother opened the door, which Ben assumed was to face him again, given the emotional subject matter. That wasn’t the case. It was to get fresh clothes. “It’s like a birthday... every year it means less.” Klaus insensitively commented, giving Ben an apologetic smile. They had a moment of intense eye contact, both of them seeming to have wildly different perspectives of how this conversation was playing out. Ben was hugely offended, and Klaus was Klaus.

“This is why I’m your only goddamn friend, Klaus, and even I don’t like you!” Ben metaphorically hit his brother where it hurt, considering Klaus was sensitive about having nobody living in his life. He pushed everyone away eventually, no matter who they were. Apart from Ben, which was only through the virtue of him being a ghost. Klaus couldn’t even have a stable place to live because he was so irritating and untrustworthy.

The bathroom door was slammed in his face, which wasn’t such a bad thing in Ben’s opinion. “I know you thought it was our birthday, you idiot!”

—

Coming out of the bathroom, Klaus found that Ben had left. “Shit.” Shit. Shit. Shit. Klaus didn’t even know the goddamn day of the week without Ben, and he sensed this absence was going to go on for as long as Ben could stand to be isolated. Why did he have to be such an asshole to Ben? Especially today. The guilt that today held had mostly worn off, it was old news. Klaus almost asked the friend he was crashing with how long ago Ben had left, which was yet another example of how painfully stupid he was without Ben’s help.

Walking over to the phone, Klaus got past the area code before he realised Ben didn’t have a fucking phone to call. Choosing to blame his unimaginable idiocy on the drugs rather than his brain, Klaus next went to call Diego. There was a chance Ben had gone there. “Give me Di-“ _Shit!_ Ben was the one who remembered people’s numbers.

“Klaus, I can never tell if you’re talking to me...” his friend worriedly replied, leaving Klaus wondering why she was allowing him to stay in her home. Even Klaus wouldn’t let himself stay at his own hypothetical home. “I wasn’t talking to you, but do you have a phone book?” Shockingly she nodded, which was pretty classy since Klaus’ friends usually didn’t even have phones, never mind the book. Jesus Christ, what was this woman’s name?! He’d been here for several days, and known her for several weeks.

Having the phone book handed over to him, Klaus flicked through it to find the lists of gyms. Hopefully Diego hadn’t gotten his life together enough to have moved out of that ridiculous place of residence. “Shit!” Klaus realised he didn’t know what the goddamn gym was called either. Apparently there were dozens of gyms in the city. He was way too lazy to call them all... Wait, how was Klaus even going to ask Diego if Ben was there anyway?! Obviously Diego couldn’t see him! This kind of shit was exactly why Klaus needed a support ghost.

Sulkily giving the phone book back, Klaus only just noticed that his bag had been placed by the front door whilst he’d been in the bathroom. Arguing with Ben in front of people never went over well. Now where was he supposed to sleep?! It was freezing outside. “If it makes any difference, he’s real! You just can’t see him!”

Watching from Klaus’ former bedroom, Ben was staggered he hadn’t thought to check for him in here. It was remarkable that his brother could even form a sentence given his glaring lack of sense. “You would think he’s real, otherwise you wouldn’t talk to him.” Sarah cautiously responded to Klaus, which was both entertaining and saddening for Ben. As far as she was concerned, Ben wasn’t real. That was how Ben seemed to everyone but Klaus.

It was baffling for Ben that Sarah had taken so many days to throw him out. She was too kind, which was something Klaus had taken advantage of. “It’s not like that! He’s not a hallucination, he’s just dead!” Why did Klaus think that would make things better rather than worse? Once Sarah threatened to call the cops, that finally made his brother agree to leave. Sarah deserved better than having Klaus and his bullshit as a houseguest. Waiting a few moments after his brother had left, Ben sneakily followed him. This could be fun.

—

In the hours Ben had been secretly tailing Klaus, his brother had: nearly gotten hit by a car three times, spoken to Ben on several occasions (even insulted him once), been punched without Ben there to deescalate things, walked straight into a lamppost, and gotten even higher than usual in the absence of Ben telling him not to. Witnessing Klaus flounder was almost more enjoyable than what Ben had wanted to manipulate him into doing today anyway. Was Klaus always this much of a mess when Ben ditched him? That was pretty concerning. The level of reliance Klaus had on him was indescribable.

When his brother sat down to roll a cigarette, Ben huffed with disappointment. That was no fun. There wasn’t any way for him to get into trouble doing that. Except for accidentally setting himself on fire, which he’d done before. More than once. How was _he_ alive?! It wasn’t goddamn fair. Though Ben definitely didn’t want any of his siblings to be dead too. Looking up and seeing Klaus pop more pills into his mouth, Ben panicked. It was alarming how incapable of looking after himself a man of his age was. “No! You took them like an hour ago, that’ll kill you!” Ben anxiously yelled, scaring the absolute shit out of Klaus.

“Coul’ you have sai’ tha’ before I pu’ them in my mouth?!” Klaus yelled back, refusing to waste them. Searching around in his pockets for something to spit them into, it dawned on Klaus that his brother had been watching him. What a conniving little shit. Spitting the pills into a rolling paper, Klaus wondered what would happen if he smoked them. “Don’t smoke them, you moron!” Ben groaned, annoyingly reading his mind with total accuracy. “I wasn’t gonna smoke them...” Klaus childishly lied, moving his bag so Ben could sit next to him.

Sitting down beside his brother, Ben chose to continue his guilt-tripping from earlier. “You know how I just saved your life for the billionth time and how I’m dead, and have been for _ten years?_ ” Ben patronisingly asked, receiving a disinterested eye roll in response. “Can’t you just pretend to care about me for one day?!” Ben frustratedly blurted, blown away by Klaus’ selfishness. What would it take for him to stop behaving like this?

“I care about you, of course I care about you!” Was Klaus really that much of an asshole that Ben didn’t already know that? Klaus genuinley didn’t know what he’d do without Ben. The mere thought of that was distressing. It would be like losing a limb. Or all four. At this point, Ben was his conscience, even if Klaus rarely listened to him. Ben’s face was calling bullshit on his statement. “I _do!_ I just...” Klaus just cared about his own interests more than he cared about anyone else’s, but saying that to Ben would be especially insensitive.

“Goddamn it, fine. What do you wanna do?” Klaus regretfully accepted, not having it in him to let Ben down for the umpteenth time on the tenth anniversary of his death. He’d let Ben down next year instead. The grin on his brother’s face made whatever it was seem exciting. “I wanna go to the library.” It wasn’t exciting.

—

Since Klaus was already changing his mind and they’d yet to begin, Ben pointed towards an incredibly slim book. Regardless of its minuscule length, Ben would still be forced to rush through it so he could read the entirety before Klaus inevitably gave up. “I’ll take you to see a movie, let’s see a movie. Books just have too many pages, I’ll get repetitive strain injury.” Klaus repeatedly wiggled his wrist around to illustrate his point.

That book likely had less than 100 pages, and way less to turn. “You have no issue repetitively using your hands for countless other people.” Ben snidely referred to his brother’s promiscuity, just to hit a nerve. That wasn’t a well thought out move, as it made Klaus give him the finger then spitefully storm away. “I can’t even remember what it’s like to be alive, I just want to read one fucking book!” He’d read the two books he had access to as a ghost more times than he cared to count.

Huffily pausing his dramatic exit, Klaus forced himself to turn back around. One book really wasn’t too much for Ben to ask for. It was just one book, one afternoon, and at least the library was warmer than outside. Prioritising someone else’s feelings was a difficult task for Klaus to accomplish. “You can do this, Klaus.” he assured himself under his breath, though he wasn’t convinced by his own words. Why did Ben have to be such a dork? Couldn’t his brother want to do fun shit?

“This one?” Klaus checked, pointing to what he thought was Ben’s selection. It wasn’t. Although Klaus knew he should pay more attention to Ben, and everyone, he had absolutely no desire to change. Pulling Ben’s actual choice off the shelf, Klaus slumped down onto a chair so Ben could read over his shoulder. _90 pages?!_ Biting down on his lip to hold back being a brat, Klaus tried to think happy thoughts.

Ecstatically beaming at finally reading a book that was brand new to him, Ben didn’t even feel forced to rush through it. He was just so excitedly eager that it would happen naturally. Even if this book was from the freaking young adults section. “Turn the page.”

**Author's Note:**

> SSN 2 spoiler
> 
> Reading this back knowing Ben went into the light is making me )))):
> 
> Also I dieddddd (no pun intended) when we saw Ben’s funeral on a snowy day bc I’d randomly written these with him dying around their bday


End file.
